Equity vs Shares

Difference Between Equity vs Shares

The corporate world is all about owning the equity and the quantum of the shares held by individuals directly or indirectly. The holding of the equity determines the ownership and managerial control of the holder of the shares.

What is Equity?

Equity basically means the ownership stake in the company. Equity, in layman’s term, means ownership capital or net worth after repayment of all the debts. Equity investments are generally bought with the expectation to enjoy the price appreciation and to grasp the opportunity to enjoy the increase in value. It provides the cushion of a benefit of ownership as well as its utility in day to day life.

What is Shares?

Shares are the unit of the capital of the company or other entity, by acquiring the same one can get ownership of the company. Shares are the pieces of capital, freely tradeable in the market in the stock exchange. The holding of shares determines the proportion of equity held by any individual directly or indirectly. This gives the opportunity to hold the investment in any entity for the long term as well as short term, thus share contracts are easily tradeable and can get squared off in the stock exchange.

Let us take an example of shares vs equity.

Mr. A buys a house worth $1 million, by taking a bank loan of $800,000. In the said transaction, Mr. A holds equity of $200,000 in the house. Mr A holds 20% equity in the house.
Another example, In XYZ Ltd, Mr. A buys 20% of the shares at market value. By buying these, it can be said that Mr. A holds a 20% ownership stake in the entity.
Mr Y buys shares of Reliance limited from the stock exchange, here shares are freely bought from the market either to earn the benefit of short term price movement or to enjoy the appreciation of the value in the investment.

Equity vs Shares Infographics

Here we provide you with the top 9 difference between Equity vs Shares

Equity vs Shares – Key Differences

The key differences between Equity vs Shares are as follows –

Equity is the ownership stake in the entity or such other valuable business component, while shares are the measurement of the ownership proportion of the individual in that business component.
Equity will be available in all the business structure which may be proprietorship or partnership or corporate structure while Shares will be available only in the corporate structure.
Equity is generally not freely tradable in the market as it directly affects the holding of the business entity while shares are easily tradable in the market by the means of recognised stock exchange
Equity includes shares stocks and other ownership capital while shares include only equity share capital and preference share capital
Equity investments are generally riskier as the person holds the ownership interest in the entity which will keep them open to all the risk faced by the entity and generally they are unlimited liable for their ownership interest while share investment is comparatively less risky as they are only liable up to the subscribed capital in the entity and hence they have liability only up to face value of the capital.
Generally, equity investments are for the long term while share investments are for short term
The primary aim of equity investors is to earn the profit out of investments and appreciate their value while the intention of share investors is to enjoy short term price movement
Equity is comparatively broader term as compared to share.
Equity instrument holders do not always have the right to receive dividends while shareholders always entitled for the dividend rights.
All equity does not share, while all shares are equity, as shares are a subset of the equity.

Equity vs Shares Head to Head Difference

Let’s now look at the head to head difference between Equity vs Shares

Basis – Equity vs Shares	Equity	Shares
Tradability	Equity is the ownership stake which cannot be easily tradable in the market	Shares are easily tradable at the stock exchange
Investment in business type	Equity is generally found in all form of the business like proprietorship, partnership or corporations	Shares are generally seen in the companies only
Dividend	If Equity has share component, then only they are entitled to the dividend rights	Shares are always entitled to have dividend rights
Includes	Equity includes shares, stocks and all the tangible assets excluding debt and fictitious assets	Shares include equity shares and preference shares only
Risk	Equity is comparatively riskier as it is attributable to the ownership of the entity, so equity holders are directly facing the complexities faced by the entity	Shares are comparatively less risky as the investors are liable for only up to the capital owned and subscribed by them.
Broader term	Equity is a much broader term compared to share	Share is a comparatively narrow term
Example	The person invests $100,000 in business, now if in that business no debt is there, then that person is termed as holding 100%	The person buys 1000 shares of reliance, where he will be considered as shareholder proportion to 1000 shares in the company.
Intention	Investors primary intention is to earn a profit by investing amount for the long term	Investors primary intention is to enjoy short term price movement
Subset	All equity are not shares	All shares are equity

Conclusion

In general parlance, people do use equity vs shares interchangeably. But fundamentally there is a difference between both the terms.

Equity investments are the primary investments which boost the entity in raising the money and gives investors appreciation in their investment values gradually. While share investments are done by the trader at the stock market. Their main aim is to speculated and to earn the short term price gain. Equity components involve the shares, stocks, reserves and ownership funds hence it is much broader term while shares are part of equity and hence it is the part of the same.